


Etheric Touch

by mixtapestar



Category: Gunnerkrigg Court
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-27
Updated: 2013-04-27
Packaged: 2017-12-09 14:54:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/775482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mixtapestar/pseuds/mixtapestar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After two weeks of near constant work and no results, Kat knows she needs some extra help with her project to build a natural, growing robot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Etheric Touch

**Author's Note:**

> For AO3's April Showers promotion. Day 3's fandom was Gunnerkrigg Court, which I immediately checked out and fell in love with.

Kat has always prided herself on following through on her ideas, getting things done all on her own. However, after two weeks of near constant work and no results, Kat knows she needs some extra help with her project to build a natural, growing robot.

"I think it needs your etheric touch," Kat explains to Annie that evening at dinner.

Annie raises her eyebrows. "But I thought you wanted to put it all together using _science_."

"Your gift is a type of science, it's just… a different flavor."

"Hmm," Annie says, either savoring her dessert or thinking it over. She stares at Kat's fingers, uneasily tapping the table, and smiles. "I'll be happy to give it a try."

"Great!" Kat exclaims, grabbing Annie's hand. "Come on, you can bring your dessert with you."

******

Despite several attempts with the blinker stone, Annie has not-quite-positive results.

"I don't understand it!" Kat says, frustrated. "When I apply the stimulus, the prototype responds logically, and when you do it, it responds… naturally, in a way, but it won't hold no matter what we do!"

Annie taps the blinker stone against the side of the workstation. It makes a _dink, dink_ noise that Kat finds oddly soothing.

"What if we channel our energies together?" Annie suggests, holding up the stone.

Kat blinks at the stone. "H-how do we do that?" 

"It's easy, you just focus on how you apply the stimulus, and push out toward the stone. I'll do the same with my way and direct our energies out."

Remembering the last time Annie tried to show her anything etheric, Kat has her doubts about her own involvement. "Okay, it's worth a shot."

Annie holds her hand out, the stone resting in her palm. Kat takes a deep breath and clasps her hand over Annie's. She squeezes her eyes shut and tries to think about the steps she takes to apply the stimulus.

Kat is startled from her thoughts when she feels Annie's free hand rest against her forehead.

"You're thinking too much," Annie says, a teasing lilt to her voice.

"I can't help it! You told me to think about my process."

Annie brushes the bangs away from Kat's eyes and smiles. "Focus on what you _feel_ , rather than how it works."

Kat takes in the affection in her friend's expression, the nice feeling of her fingers brushing at Kat's hair, and with a tiny jolt she feels the blinker stone heat up against her palm.

"Okay?" Annie says with an encouraging smile, and with heat rushing to her cheeks, Kat quickly responds, "Okay."

Kat squeezes her eyes shut once more, but this time she concentrates on the heat of Annie's hand in hers, not just from the stone, and the belief that with the two of them, this could work. She knows the reasons that her scientific application should help, and that a piece of the magic that Kat can't yet explain should give that extra spark, and she mixes this knowledge with the accelerated beating of her heart and _pushes_ , just like Annie said.

Suddenly, a loud rush of noise fills the room, and everything goes blindingly white. Kat's heart seems to be beating out of her chest, and she can't get a handle on any of her senses; time seems to have stopped in this alternate state, and just as suddenly, everything equals, and it's as if nothing's changed.

The prototype sits on the counter, except this time, the movement of the clockwork within means that their plan had some effect. "I think it worked!" Kat exclaims, and then clears her throat and makes a face at her voice. She looks up from the prototype and begins to comment, only to come face to face with… herself?

"Kat?" the other her says, reaching up to touch a necklace that isn't there.

Kat reaches out in amazement, only to catch sight of her own perfectly painted nails, which certainly weren't that way a minute ago. She gasps and reaches for her hair, much longer and redder than it should be, and begins to put the pieces together. "Omigod, did we switch bodies?"

"Apparently so," comes Annie's response in Kat's voice. "Our energies must have switched when making the trip back through the stone."

"You can undo it, right?" Kat asks, because even though this is totally cool, she's already starting to feel uncomfortable in Annie's body. And she definitely can't handle the pressure of being Annie.

"We probably just need to reverse the process," Annie suggests, holding her hand out and staring into the air. With a frown, she concentrates on her palm, but it remains empty.

"What is it?" Kat asks with no small amount of trepidation.

"The blinker stone," Annie says with a frown. "I can't retrieve it. I can't even see it."

Kat straightens from her slouch at the slight panic she hears in, well, technically her own voice. That's really weird. Quickly, she crouches down and finds the stone on the floor.

"Oh," Annie says as Kat closes her hand around the stone and straightens. Annie takes the stone from her and examines it. Wordlessly, she hands it back and raises her eyebrows. "I can only sense it when you hold it."

"Interesting," Kat says as she holds the stone up to the light. "I guess it knows all of you, even when 'you' are split up into two bodies." She continues to examine it, how the light reflects and how it feels to the touch, until Annie clears her throat and brings her out of her thoughts.

"I think you should try to use it," Annie suggests, "since it's tied to you."

Kat protests, citing all of Annie's failed attempts to have Kat tap into the ether, and how she's sure all this is her fault, but ultimately they have no choice but to try. Several hours pass, and she is successful at retrieving the stone when she can see it elsewhere in the room, but beyond that the attempts are miserable. They don't even come close to reversing their energies.

"We'll try again in the morning," Annie assures her on the train ride back to the school. Her hand finds Kat's, and Kat feels a tiny bit better with their fingers laced together. The stone feels heavy in her pocket. "We've both been through a lot today."

"What if we're stuck this way?" Kat asks in a whisper. There's no way she can handle being Annie. She can barely hold in her fright sometimes just hearing Annie's stories. And if Annie can't do her magic properly in Kat's body, they may have broken something even greater.

Annie squeezes her hand. "We won't be."

Kat wishes she could have Annie's confidence, but her mind is spinning the rest of the way back home.

Reynardine spots their body swap immediately and proceeds to make crude jokes about the situation while in his stuffed form. Kat snaps at him to shut up almost without thinking and is surprised to hear him stop mid-sentence. She and Annie make eye contact for a moment, and then Annie says, "Stand on one foot." Reyardine complies, his annoyed look deepening.

This time when Kat catches Annie's eye, they both dissolve into giggles. "Okay," Kat says when she catches her breath, "you can stand normally, and speak, but no inappropriate jokes."

Reynardine grumbles something about them being no fun like this and goes to pout elsewhere.

Kat feels a little bit better as she changes into pajamas (Annie's, which are different, but not uncomfortable) and crawls into bed. She sets the blinker stone carefully on her nightstand and stares at it for a moment. It glows very faintly if she concentrates hard enough, but that's about all she can do without Annie's help. She falls asleep with her brain chasing various ideas for tomorrow.

An hour or so later, she wakes with a start, the remnants of a very strange and stressful dream fading instantly. Her heart is hammering, and it takes her a moment to remember why she feels so out of sorts.

Reynardine, now in his wolf form, picks his head up and gazes at her curiously in the dark. She scowls at him and turns over to face the wall. Her heart is still pounding.

"It's not just you, you know," Reynardine says quietly several minutes later, when Kat is still unable to fall asleep. "Annie's having nightmares too."

Kat twists around to look, and sure enough, Annie looks troubled, though she still sleeps.

"I don't think she'd mind if you shared," Reynardine suggests. Kat glares at him, sure he's up to something, but he lays his head back down at his feet, unaffected. "Stay if you want. Your minds are conflicted by being in the wrong bodies; I only thought it would help."

With a sigh, Kat takes his advice. She's definitely not having any luck by herself. Annie makes a confused noise as Kat approaches the bed, her eyes slitting open as Kat shakes her shoulder gently.

"I'm having nightmares too," Kat explains. "Reynardine thinks we might sleep better if we're together?"

Annie smiles and hums her agreement, scooting over to give Kat enough room on the bed. Kat settles in and warms immediately, already feeling more contented. Her mind still races for a while, but she does eventually fall asleep.

******

The next morning, Kat wakes in mild confusion, but it's far from the disconcerting feeling from the night before. She's still in Annie's body, but she feels much more at ease, as if things are almost normal. Maybe Reynardine was right.

As she wakes further, she realizes her hand is extended, Annie's hand laying over it, and in between is the blinker stone, unnaturally warm. That's weird; she's sure she left it on her nightstand when she came over.

Annie begins to wake up beside her, stretching slowly before smiling and muttering a friendly, "Morning."

Kat smiles back automatically, feeling warm all over, but then the heat concentrates on her hand and she pulls it back with a sharp, "Ow!" The stone falls back to the mattress, its red-hot surface fading to the normal red instantly.

Annie frowns and asks if she's okay, but Kat waves it off. This is not the first time she's suspected the stone doesn't like her. The sooner she can give complete ownership back to Annie the better.

As the two of them get ready to go eat and head back to the workshop, Kat ponders her dreams. The more pleasant ones seemed to offer a solution to their predicament, though the details are unfortunately escaping her now.

On their way out the door, Reynardine calls her back. Annie shrugs and leaves them alone, reminding Kat that she can order him around now, too.

"What is it?" Kat asks, not quite snapping, but still wary of whatever it is that Reynardine doesn't want Annie to hear.

"Are you beginning to understand what makes it work?" he asks, indicating the stone grasped in her hand.

"If I was, we'd probably be done with all this mess," she says, annoyed.

"It's feeling," he says, very matter-of-fact. "You're more focused on what you know, most of the time, but to use the stone you'll have to focus on what you _feel_."

"That doesn't make any sense," Kat snaps, even though it's exactly what Annie told her yesterday. "I can't just 'feel' my way back to my own body."

"Can't you?" Reynardine asks, and Kat isn't sure what he's getting at.

"I have to go," Kat says hurriedly, and Reynardine doesn't stop her as she turns to leave.

******

They try unsuccessfully for an hour, at the end of which Kat feels one more failure away from bursting into tears.

"Hey," Annie says gently, breaking her concentration and reaching out to brush her fingers over Kat's temple. With a soft laugh, Annie says, "Don't worry so much, you'll give me worry lines."

Kat laughs despite her frustration. "I guess I need to take more care of myself until I can give you your body back, huh?"

Annie frowns. "You should be taking care of yourself regardless," she chastises. Her hand continues its little caress. "And let me take care of you when you can't."

The stone suddenly jumps to her hand from its spot on the counter, even though she was barely thinking of it, and Kat remembers: _feeling_. Stupid Reynardine.

"Why don't we take a break?" Annie offers, but Kat feels a strange, sort of serene confidence suddenly.

"Let me try one more time," she says, and Annie nods. "This might seem a little weird, but I have an idea."

"I trust you."

Kat feels a burst of affection that helps her resolve for her next move. "Remember to focus your energy out, no matter what I'm doing," she reminds Annie. She doubts that's needed; Annie's not the problem here. Annie diligently closes her eyes and the stone heats between their overlaid palms, and Kat screws up her courage. Imagining that it's not her own body, but Annie's there in front of her, she tilts forward and… panics, nearly backs out, shifting just enough to plant an awkward kiss on Annie's cheek instead of the original plan.

Annie utters a pleased little, "oh!" and turns her head in surprise, their lips just barely brushing by accident. And maybe that's all it took, because as Kat pushes out her own energy, she can feel that same warm white heat from yesterday, and after a minute of disorientation, she blinks at Annie, now back in her proper body.

Annie stumbles for a moment, probably from coming back to Kat's awkward lean, and Kat reaches out to steady her. Her heartbeat is pounding in her ears, waiting for Annie's response, and then a brilliant smile stretches across her friend's face. "You did it!" she exclaims, throwing her arms around Kat.

"Oh," Kat says, a bit breathless as she hugs Annie.

"I'm so proud of you!"

"Thanks," Kat says shyly as they break the hug. "Reynardine actually helped."

"Oh?"

"He kinda said I needed to get out of my head. So to speak."

Annie nods, tossing the stone into the air and then pulling it back to her before gravity has a chance. With a satisfied smile, she grips the stone and makes a pleasantly tame fire surround the two of them. She leans her forehead against Kat's and says, "Well no matter what it took, I'm still proud of you."

Kat blames her blush on the bright fire all around them. "You helped too."

"Shh," Annie says. "Accept the compliment."

"Right," Kat says, and as before, she stops worrying for long enough to enjoy the warmth and familiarity around her.

"I should get back," Annie says eventually, pulling away and taking the fire with her. "Are you staying?"

"For a bit," Kat says, a little relieved at the chance to be alone with her thoughts for a while.

"Okay," Annie accepts, and Kat's breath catches as Annie leans in to brush a kiss over Kat's cheek. "See you later," Annie says brightly before skipping her way out of the building.

Kat blows out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and turns back to her papers, where at least things make sense.

Not that everything always has to make sense, she supposes, bringing her hand up to her cheek and smiling.

THE END


End file.
